Innovations and development
Steel is the common designation for a group of materials that may be thought to be well-known but still have enormous potential to continue being one of society’s most essential materials.
New steels create new opportunities
The Swedish steel companies already handle about 2,000 different steel grades commercially. New steel grades are under continuous development and the production processes are becoming more efficient. The driving force behind this material development is the ambition to enhance material quality and performance or to find new and enhanced material properties.
Within materials research are to be found crucial future solutions to energy and climate change problems. Several functions and/or properties are combined in this case to create customised materials for both the simplest and the most advanced applications. This may mean that the steel - in its end use - is able to save energy, transport more or deliver an increased useful life. All this reflects the fact that the market demands lighter, stronger and more sustainable steel.
Process development
To manufacture these materials, a number of advanced process stages are required. Part of the challenge, in the different processes and at speeds measured in seconds and with precision in millimetres, is to successfully control hundreds of tonnes, at temperatures of no less than 1,500-1,700°C!
With the aid of research and modern IT, in combination with theory and long experience, new targets are attained all the time in the efforts to exploit newly developed know-how in the production.
Innovations in steel are necessary!
The world continues to grow and steel’s great socioeconomic value ensures it a central role in society’s development for a long time ahead. Innovations in steel are thus a necessary prerequisite for economic growth but one must not forget that growth arises only when these innovations are used for profitable production of actual goods and services.
Furthermore, steel is 100% recyclable and has long formed part of an efficient eco-cycle and is used constantly for new products within all areas of society.
